Daorae Korean BBQ Restaurant @ De Garden, Ipoh

So how’s your Chinese New Year celebration so far? Surely, the time spent catching up with your family, friends and relatives was well worthy of the disastrous congestion/flood/horrid torrential downpour/effort you invested prior to these 3 days.

For me, coming home to Ipoh is undoubtedly a blessing in every manner. Reunions and gatherings aside, Ipoh’s still the ultimate food paradise for me. Yup, such a simple (naive?) Ipoh boy that I still am; I developed this penchant for eating and shooting the food that I eat (and successfully annoying the others by claiming ownership over the food that the others eat, albeit temporarily) back in 2008 when I was working in Ipoh, and running all around Perak (if you’re already bored of eating in same old Ipoh, consider travelling short distances to all around Perak, you’ll be astonished – Perak Food Guide)

Various Korean side dishes (ban chan) to perk up your appetite before the meats come into play.

Ironically, on the same day that I posted on our lunch at Daorae @ Taipan, I was informed that Daorae would soon be opening a branch at De Garden of Ipoh!!! That was music to my ears, indefinitely since I love Korean cuisine and the sheer dearth of worthy Korean outlets in Ipoh (only Yea Won and Onix Jun, though I have not given Riche Montana Korean Buffet a try yet) painted a bleak image about good Korean cuisine in the eyes of the locals.

A very spacious dining environment, separated into different sections to cater to all needs. You can have your BBQ meals seated on the wooden floor; from the low tables perched underneath the vacuum hood (to rid the diners off unpleasant smoke and grease), or you can choose to sit on usual heights and dine as usual.

Daorae Korean BBQ Restaurant opened their maiden outlet in Perak; on top of Pappa Rich at De Garden. Read on for the details ………

Soon-dubu-jjigae (RM18/USD6) – Kim Chi hotpot of stewed beancurd and seafood with an egg cracked just before serving. A sumptuous and hearty serving of tummy-warming concoction; and not too spicy too. Comes with a bowl of rice, this should be more than ample for an individual meal.

Cut up slices of pork belly; with a distinctive aroma of herbs marinated into the meat prior to the grilling. At Daorae, the staff do all the grilling, cutting and serving, so you can enjoy your side dishes (ban chan) while catching up on life stories and leaving the dirty work to them. Ingenious.

Yang-nyum Dak-gal-bi (RM28/USD9) - Marinated skinless chicken fillets in special soy sauce. The nice chunks of deboned and filleted chicken had this sweetish and savoury flavours; from the soy sauce used in the marinade. The caramelized onions and garlic provided much oomph; and you’re supposed to wrap everything together in a slice of fresh lettuce before popping the whole package into your mouth.

The place was packed, almost expected since there’s nothing much one can do in Ipoh aside from eating, eating and eating. Or maybe a movie or two. De Garden is bustling with the crowd day and night, and now that they have built the multi-level carpark (though with EXTREMELY tight spaces and ramps, RM1/hour), it settles the plaguing hassle of finding a vacant lot from back then.

Foodwise, nothing much to complain. Service was satisfactory and the place seems to run extremely well at a rapid turnover pace. Well-staffed and unlike most new eateries; Daorae actually hires more than enough hands to do all the ordering, cleaning, serving and grilling.

Since they use the same menu as the sister outlets in Klang Valley; read my previous post on Daorae @ Taipan USJ to see what else is good, and why you should go all out for some OX TONGUES!

Interesting display of Korean ginseng as soon as you walk in from the main entrance.

39 Responses to “Daorae Korean BBQ Restaurant @ De Garden, Ipoh”

The best Korean food I’ve ever tasted, expensive though!Most of the workers are either from Bangladesh, Nepal.. no locals and they speak Korean and are very friendly.
By the way, did you try the cakes and ice cream next door? The Brownies. Their cakes are simply delicious esp the Pumpkin Cheese, Belgian Cheese, Carrot Cheese, Chocolate moist, Tiramisu, cranberry layer cake etc. and I’ve tasted their ” Hup Toh so”, heavenly but always not available.Unfortunately, being new, they don’t seem to attract customers yet. Give them time.

Yeah, nice authentic Korean food but pricey! My bill came to RM390 for 4 adullts 4 children.Went with my family yesterday. We love it but my children says it is hot and spicy(I don’t think so) . Anyway, there was a brief moment of blackout with the place full of smoke from the BBQ.
You know the tube coming down to suck the smoke doesn’t work if there is no electricity.
My children love the Haagen Diaz ice cream next door (The Brownies ) more.

i went there a week ago,the waiter insist us to order 5 sets of bbq meat for 5 ppl,while v juz want 3 sets and of coz other dishes…then suddenly d waiter like change his way of serving us,talk vf his colleagues with their own language like v duno they’re actualy talk’ bout us,then one thg i nvr thought would happen,they serve less than a few side dishes jz 4 to 5 of small plates of side dishes and not like those in d pic showing…and v nvr got d soup and d fruits and they nvr help us refill d side dishes…and when v complain to d korean manager,d oni xcuse he can give is oni due to communication barrier between customer and waiter and manager…!!!!!!!
absolutely not going back there as Daorae at other places serve customer better!

Seriously? The service was really good though,the time we went. They were attentive and attending to our every needs. Although the place was really packed.
Maybe Daorae’s management should look into this matter and not let things get into their heads.

I went there too and get the bad service too. Bcos there are 5 of us and 2 of them are only 13 years old so we couldn’t eat much. we order 4 set of food but the waiter insist want us to order for 5 sets. We refuse by complaining to the manager. Then they process our request but supply us with less side dishes and never refill the dishes. After finish the meal, we complain again and the manager explain there may be some communication barrier. !!!!! will never go to this restaurant again. i have tried the branch in Malacca. The service is really good and the workers are friendly

Hmm, this is bad enough. Maybe the management needs to buck up on the service? They should not insist on patrons ordering a set each, as sharing is permissible in almost all restaurants, even of higher statures. Wonder if they have let success gone to their heads?

Can someone incharge of Daorae reply me, this is emergency. On the April of 17 Sunday, me and my father and sister came. I forgotten my NOKIA phone on the table. Can someone reply me ASAP or call me at 05-5276688 or email me

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